The piece I use in this tutorial isn't even done yet, but I've been dying to get this up for the last 2 days. It's a pretty simple beginner tutorial on layering oil paints. There are many different styles of painting, this tutorial outlines the style I end up using the most.

I hope this is well received, I would love to make more tutorials. Maybe one day I'll even buy a nice HD camera and make some youtube video tutorials.

Sorry for the late reply. It really varies with your technique. If your paints are not fully dry then the lower layers will muddy up the new layers. You can use this to your advantage however if you are doing some intricate blending. I would just start by letting the lower layers drying completely. Usually you will see them get a more dull sheen in a glancing light as they dry. You can also test them by touching a dry, clean brush and seeing if it sticks. As you start, I would just let the layers dry fully and then when you get more comfortable experiment with wet layers.

Just like "secretplanet" said, start with cheap stuff. I did most of my painting in college with brush sets came in 4 packs for $10-$15. I don't know too much about oil paint sets. I have always bought all of my tubes individually. I would definitely avoid "Hues" and any "Pthalo" pigments to start. Hues are too weak and if you try to mix them with non-hues they won't even show up. Pthalos are too strong, and they will overpower anything you mix with them. Honestly just to start I would try doing value paintings and leave the color out of it when you're just starting out. Get a cheap tube of each of these pigments to start...

Titanium WhiteIvory BlackVan Dyke BrownRaw Umber($5-$10 each)

After you get some cheap brushes and paints go to Home Depot or a local hardware store/lumber yard and get some of this stuff...-A small 1qt can of flat white latex primer (perfect substitute for gesso) ($10)-A small foam paint roller for priming $5 or $6)-A few small sheets of MDF (multiple density fiberboard) to paint on. Big places like Home Depot will sell MDF in small sheets for making cabinets but they will also cut them down to size for you at the store. (2ft x 4ft $4- $5)

can i jump in? i'm not professional, but i love oil paints! i started with a cheapo box of 12 tubes for $10, used the cheapest brushes around, & painted on board, which i primed with leftover wall paint. by the time you empty a tube, you know whether or not you like oil paints & you can replace the colours you use the most with better quality ones. same with the brushes! and there's non stinky solvent to clean brushes in now, although turpentine is still much cheaper!

Thanks for the nice comment. I use a few different kinds of brushes. I used a 1/2in Filbert a 1in flat and several small round brushes from 1/4in to 1/8in. I also had a few larger brushes for blocking in big areas of the underpainting ie: 2 and 3in flats.

I suppose I'm just mirroring what others have already said, but thank you very much for posting this. I'm a theatre artist who decided to try oils on a whim and this should serve as a great starting point. I especially like the way you break down the steps, because I am not accustomed to painting or even visual art in general.

Its unfortunate that your website has expired otherwise I'd certainly enjoy checking out your other works.

This really opened my eyes to proper oil layering. I want to get into this, but I am relieved because I thought I was doomed to attempt working with wet layers, resulting in smudging and unwanted mixing of colors.

Wow. I am stunned. I feel so inept. Your paintings are amazing!My problem is I work mostly in watercolors, so when I paint with oils, I can't wait for the layers to dry Anyway, your tutorial was very helpful, but please, please Please! Make more! I'm dying to see more of your techniques!

Thank yo so much for this introduction! I've never painted on canvas, almost all of my images are digital and want to try real canvas one day. ATM I'm just browsing information to learn how to, what supplies I need etc. Your tutorial is really informative

I've been taking some art classes privately and when they showed me how to paint with oils they never said anything about ground layer (and even I know, though I've never painted in oil before that you need to have a ground layer) and said that you have to start with highlights and add darker colors in layers, which is nearly impossible for me to pull off. It makes much more sense to me that you start with a base color and add shadows, lights and details afterwards. I don't think I'll be going to those classes any more.

I will reiterate what so many before me have stated. This is truly a fantastic tutorial that I have most definitely benefited from, for that I thank you abundantly! Shortly I will be beginning my first oils class and I have already purchased my Liquin and Turpenoid (my teacher is allergic to Turpentine) and I am glad to see that the Liquin comes so highly recommended.

My question for you centers around they quality of brushes I should be using. Since I am still a full time student with limited free time should I be investing in high quality brushes or will the cheaper value packs of Loew-Cornell brushes be adequate for what I plan to do?

The price of the brushes really has nothing to do with their quality IMHO. I use very cheap brushes. At least they are cheap relative to other paint brushes. I have probably only spent about $200 on brushes in my life. My favorite brush is a small, ratty 1/4in round brush that I bought for about $5.

Cheap brushes will do fine. You can sometimes find decent brush sets at hobby stores for about $10. You would be well to do to find a set with a 1in flat and some small round brushes. They will be great for learning. Also on that note, if you are just learning there is no need to spend tons of money on brushes becuase you don't really know what kind of painter you want to be yet. You wouldn't go buy an $8000 digital camera for your 1st photography class only to find out that you like film camreas better, so you shouldn't go buy expensive paint brushes for your first painting class. Once you figure out how you like to paint then you can start to thing about upgrading to the brushes that fit your style most appropriately.

Cheap brushes have served me well and they will do you well too if you take proper care to clean and store them. The only compromise you make for cheap brushes is the build quality of them. They fall apart quickly and sometimes the brisltes fall out. That being said I still use the first $10 set of brushes I bought a decade ago.

Thank you for your wonderful comments! Good luck in your new class, I'm sure it will be a great experience.

!!! so thats what I was doing wrong...do you think that more dilute paints, ie. adding watter to oil paints, would help to blend the colours as well, and overall create a generally nicer painting. I personally have never oil painted before and tried to paint a photo of my mom very un successfullly. Generally I got the whole face and shadin right but it was VERY thick and I had to use alot of paint. Now I was wondering if you're Supposed to add water ;D cause well I didnt and I used quite a bit of the globby mess. :3 and I couldnt mix colours well :[ so YEAH! RAR! thanks for the turtorial, I would suggest going more in detail about how to do what you've mentioned on the tut. and how to do brush strokes woulr be stellar ;D ktnx pce out~

Thanks for the reply, I'm glad it was helpful. I will definitely make more tutorials in the future.

Adding water will really do nothing since water will not mix with the paint. If you want to thin the paints you need to use a medium like Liquin made by Winsor and Newton. Don't use "Paint Thinner." Paint thinner is actually destructive to the paints and will wreck your paints.

Well it really doesn't matter what you paint on with respect to layers. I usually paint on a piece of MDF (Multiple Density Fiberboard) or Masonite, both of which can be bought at a Home Depot for a few dollars.

The main difference between canvas and board is the level of detail and the level of smooth blending that can be achieved. Since canvas has a texture to it, it acts kind of like a mini cheese grater scraping paint off your brush. Because of this, you can't get the same level of micro-detailing on a canvas that you can on a board that won't scrape paint off the brush. However, canvases will allow you to have smoother blends over large areas due to the paint slightly soaking into the canvas.

I would say try out a board if you haven't yet. You can get a piece of 24x26in board for about $2 where an equally sized, high quality canvas will cost you closer to $60-$70. Keep in mind though that painting on a board is quite different from painting on a canvas. Since there is no texture for the paint to grip, it will slide around a bit more and you won't need to use as much medium to properly thin the paint.

Oils are awesome. Once you get used to them they're incredibly flexible and forgiving. The only downside I can think of is that they're expensive, but oil paintings usually sell for more than acrylics or watercolors.